The Game Is On
by pikapikatchu
Summary: When the man who terrorized the police department with bombs strikes again, the CSIs must find out who he is before one of their own becomes his victim.  Meanwhile, Greg and Nick find themselves dealing with troubles that may jeopardize their friendship.
1. Chapter 1

This story follows up on my other stories. Please read the others before you start reading this one or else you might be a little confused about what's going on :) thanks

You can find it at my profile or here: 

first story: _"A day at the video rental store"_

**.net/s/6502149/1/A_day_at_the_video_rental_store **

second story:_ "An eye for an eye"_

**.net/s/6506034/1/An_Eye_For_An_Eye **

third story: _"Boom"_

**.net/s/6516243/1/Boom**

(just put the fanfiction-url in front of the urls above and you're good to go. I can't publish it as a real link, I'm sorry!)

* * *

Three weeks ago, a bomb exploded at a crime scene that left two police officers injured. Since then there hasn't been one again and no threats towards the police were uttered. They looked into Jason McCann, the kid whose brother planned a bomb attack at the police station, but couldn't find anything linking him or someone at his community center to the bombs. They were pretty sure these people had nothing to do with it.

As Greg was getting ready for work he heard a knock on his door.

Rapidly putting on his shirt, he opened the door. "Nick" he was surprised to see his colleague standing at the door.

"Well since your car broke down three days ago, I thought I'd give you a ride" Nick smiled at Greg.

"Nick, you're a life saver! I would have to head out now if I wanted to be punctual, but I'm not ready yet!" he said, hastily putting his socks on.

Nick couldn't help but smirk. "Well now there's no rush, just take your time" he went into the kitchen, trying to find some coffee. "Hey man, where's your coffee?"

"I didn't have time for it!" he called out of the bathroom, fixing his hair.

"Right..." Nick said, rolling his eyes, opening the fridge to try and find something else to drink. He took out a bottle of orange juice, took a glass and filled it up. When he took a sip he noticed a pillbox sitting on the kitchen counter. When he picked it up to see what kind of pills it was, Greg came in.

"Okay, I'm ready, let's..." when he saw Nick holding the pillbox, he stopped talking.

"Why didn't you tell anyone you were taking sleeping pills?" Nick asked concerned.

"It's no big deal, Nick" he said, taking the pillbox out of Nicks hands, giving him an annoyed look. "I don't take one every night, but after pulling a double I find it hard to fall asleep sometimes." he put the pillbox down on the kitchen counter again, making his way to the door. "Now come on or we're both running late."

* * *

"So, for how long have you been taking these pills?" Nick asked, driving the car to the lab.

"I don't know, a couple of weeks, I guess..." Greg said, pretending like it wasn't a big deal.

Nick just nodded, trying to find the right words. „Has it anything to do with the threats we received...?"

"No." he looked at Nick, appreciating his concern "I mean, sure, it's weird thinking about these threats, but that's not it..."

"What is it, then?"

"I don't know..." he looked out the window "I guess I'm just stressed out right now."

"Yeah I noticed, you pulled a lot of overtime..." Nick looked at Greg "You don't have financial problems, do you?"

This comment made Greg chuckle "No, I'm fine. I just felt like I could work a little more."

"Alright, but don't let it go too far. We don't need another Sara. Your body's telling you to take it easy, so listen to it."

"Yeah I know... Maybe I'll take a few days off." he smiled at Nick.

Nick knew exactly why Greg was working so much. He needed to take his mind off his problems. Hearing that he might take a few days off was a good sign, Nick thought. Greg was slowly getting all the emotional stress out of his system, he thought. But on the other hand, he was taking sleeping pills. Nick was sure it had something to do with what happened. But it's been months, he had to get over it eventually.

"That's a good idea" Nick responded, smiling back.

* * *

Arriving at the lab, they met Ray and Sara in the locker room.

"Hey guys" Sara smiled at the two, noticing Greg's slightly pissed face. "What's up?"

Greg didn't respond, just opened his locker.

"He's pissed because his car needs another three days to be repaired. The mechanic just called him." Nick said, with a small smirk on his face, looking to Greg.

"I don't get it! How can the whole engine be damaged to a point where they need to replace it? I got this car two years ago!" he slammed his locker's door.

"Well maybe you're not as good a driver as you thought you were." Nick teased him.

"Veeeeery funny, Nick. I'm not the one who almost ran over a red light just ten minutes ago!" Greg teased back.

"Hah! If you wouldn't be talking so much I could concentrate on the traffic!"

Sara and Ray were laughing at their taunting when Catherine went in. "Come on guys, hurry up, we got work to do." she smiled at her colleagues.

"Alright, let's go..." as Greg walked out the door, he patted Nick on the back.

This small gesture almost moved Nick to tears. After Greg told him what happened in that video store, Nick avoided every physical contact with him. And now Greg patted him on the shoulder, something he hasn't done in months. Nick was really feeling like Greg was getting back on track again.

* * *

"Okay, we got six dead bodies at a house in Henderson. Family drama..." Catherine said, handing a paper with the address on to Nick. "Let's go."

They all left the lab, driving to the crime scene.


	2. Chapter 2

When they arrived, a group of officers already stood in front of the house. Ever since they received these threats, they were extra careful. Bomb dogs were walking around every crime scene but fortunately never detected anything explosive.

Nick, Greg and Catherine got out of Nick's car, Ray and Sara got out of Sara's car.

They all went into the house where they already met the first two bodies. „Hi guys. The son and his girlfriend... The others are upstairs, the father is in the basement..." David said, leaning over the bodies.

Catherine sighed. "Okay. Ray, you take the father. Sara and I will take these two here. Nick and Greg, upstairs?"

"You got it" Nick picked his kit up off the floor and went up.

"The aunt found them and called 911..." David said, pointing at the crying woman standing outside.

* * *

Ray went down to the basement.

The father was hanging on a rope that was wrapped around some pipes, suggesting he hang himself after he shot his family.

Ray pointed his flash light on the rope around his neck "Bruising around the neck..." he let his flash light wander through the room. "And here's the gun he probably used to kill his family..." He thought, picking it up and bagging it.

* * *

Nick was standing in the door to one of the daughter's bedroom. The daughter, who wasn't much older than 10 years old, was lying on the floor with a teddy bear near her dead body. It was lying in a puddle of blood.

Greg walked over to Nick, looking into the room. He could see the shocked look on Nick's face. "Do you want me to process the bodies? You could take the rest of the house."

"No, I'm fine. We'll process the rooms together after we finished up the bodies. Who's in the other rooms?" Nick looked at Greg.

"The mum is in the bedroom, the second daughter in the bathroom... The shower was still on when I went in. How about I process the daughters and you take the mother?" Greg offered to Nick. Nick had always a hard time working on cases involving kids, but everyone of them did.

"No it's okay. Let's start with the daughters and whoever is finished quicker does the mother." Nick went into the room.

"Alright..." Greg said, making his way into the bathroom.

* * *

When Nick was done in the little girl's bedroom, he went into the room the mother was lying in. Much to his surprise, Greg already started processing the room.

"That was quick" Nick said, grinning at Greg.

"Yeah well, there wasn't much evidence left. The shower washed it all away." Greg said to Nick, picking up some fibers.

"The daughter in the shower, was she shot, too?" Nick asked, taking a look at the mother's face.

"Yeah, I think she didn't even saw him coming. It looks like she was shot in the back and didn't try to run."

"Hey guys" David walked in.

"Hey Superdave" Nick said, still looking at the mother's face, picking up some fibers from her mouth with his tweezers. „Can you tell me if she died from the gunshot wound?"

"Let's see" David looked at the wound "I'm not 100% sure, but it looks like she was shot after she died..."

Greg looked up to the two men. "If she wasn't shot, she might've been the first victim. The daughter in the shower probably was the second, that would explain why she didn't hear anything. The little girl was probably the next victim..." he paused. "And then he killed his son and the girlfriend who were trying to make a run for the door..."

"And then he killed himself in the basement" Nick added.

They looked at each other. "Okay, let's get them out of here, David." Nick finally said.

* * *

Nick and Greg were in the daughter's bedroom, the one that was shot in the shower. She was 15 years old, a pretty girl. Her room had posters of different bands and singers on the walls, and a few pictures of her friends. One of the boys on the pictures looked like he was her boyfriend.

"Greg, look at that." Nick pointed his flash light on the bed. "Does that look like semen stains to you?"

Greg gave Nick a look "Looks like a pretty fresh stain to me" he swabbed it. "You think this has anything to do with what happened?"

"Well, if this guy is her boyfriend, maybe." looking at his pictures, he said "He looks like he's at least two or three years older than her. Maybe the father found out and lost it."

"We'll have to find the boyfriend and talk to him" Greg said, putting the swab away.

They were going through the room, looking at every little detail, since they suspected that it all started with the daughter.

"Now that's nothing a father would like his 15 year old daughter to possess." Nick held up a pack of condoms and a pack of birth control pills when suddenly a bullet pierced through the pack of condoms, almost hitting Nick's hand.

"Get down!" Nick yelled, pushing Greg to the ground, who was standing just a few inches away from him. A few dozen bullets followed to pierce through the house, several of them through the room Nick and Greg were in, missing the two men by mere inches.

Then it stopped. Silence. Neither of the two men said anything. They couldn't hear anything from downstairs, either.

"What was that?" Greg said with a trembling voice, trying to get up.

"Wait" Nick pulled him down again. With his right hand on Greg's back, keeping him from getting up, he slowly took his cell phone with his left hand, giving Catherine a call. "Catherine... Are you guys alright?"

"Yeah, I think so... How about you?" Catherine replied.

"Still in shock..." Nick laughed a bit, almost as if he couldn't believe what just happened. "But we're fine. Have you checked on Ray yet?"

"He's here with us" Catherine stopped for a while.

"Catherine? Are you still here?"

"Call the paramedics!" was all Nick could hear through his phone anymore.

"Catherine? Catherine!" Nick got up "Someone's got hurt, I think..." briefly looking at Greg, he ran downstairs.

* * *

When both Nick and Greg arrived downstairs, the lobby looked like hell broke loose. Several bullets hit the bodies, lying on a gurney, ready to be wheeled out.

"Where's Catherine?" Nick said, looking around the room.

"Outside... Two o...officers were hit..." David stuttered.

As Nick went outside, Greg took care of David who was still shaking.

"Catherine!" He went over to her.

Officer Headley and Officer Jones were lying on the ground, bleeding. Catherine pushed against the gunshot wound Officer Headley had in her leg as the paramedics arrived. Catherine made room for them and went over to Nick. "She has a chance, but Officer Jones..." she shook her head. Officer Jones was shot in the head, he was dead instantly. "We need to make sure we're safe here. Until we know for sure, no one touches anything."

* * *

When they were allowed to go back in, they went back to work, almost as if nothing happened.

"Okay, Ray and Sara, you two try to get every evidence we need for the murders. Nick and Greg, you two come with me. We need to collect all the bullets we can find. When you two are done with the murders, you can join us. Start down here, we'll start upstairs."

* * *

"I can't believe you two came out of here without a scratch." Catherine said, taking pictures of the bullet holes in the walls. They were back in the room where Nick and Greg were standing when the shooting started.

"Yeah I know." Nick picked up the pack of condoms "We need to find this guy quick, before anyone else gets hurt."

Greg was sticking the laser pointers into some bullet holes "I think I know where the bullets came from!"

"From that tree?" Nick said in disbelief.

"Look closer. There's a tree house up there. I think the shooter was in that tree house!"

"I'll send a Unit." Catherine said, picking up her radio.


	3. Chapter 3

"Most of our evidence is ruined!" Sara said, throwing back a picture frame that had at least three bullet holes, back to the ground.

"Which won't be a big problem if the father really did it... But I found evidence that suggests he didn't commit suicide..." Ray replied.

"So somebody else must've been in the house after the family was murdered..."

* * *

Back at the lab, Greg was trying to reconstruct the crime scene on the computer when he got an email.

"Catherine!" he yelled from inside the computer room, waving at her. "You need to see this!"

"What is it?" she went in, looking at the screen.

"Someone just sent me this email with pictures of our crime scene... BEFORE the house was pierced through by a few dozen bullets." he clicked the pictures open.

Catherine just stared at the pictures. "Archie needs to find out where that email came from..." she called him to get over here quick.

"Why would this guy send this email to you?" Catherine looked at Greg. She figured that if he wanted to send these pictures to the police he'd rather send it to Brass or maybe her, since she was the supervisor. But why would he send it to a normal CSI?

"I... I don't know. I don't use this address for personal matters, I have no idea how he got it!"

"Well..." Catherine sighed. "That's not important now, first we need to find out WHO he is."

As she went out, Greg couldn't help but think she was kind of angry with him, as if it was his fault this guy somehow got his department email address.

* * *

The CSIs all gathered in the break room to discuss the case.

"So Archie said he can't find out who sent this email to Greg. This guy obviously knows his way around a computer. Archie will do what he can, but he doesn't think he'll ever find out..." Ray said, looking at the printed email. „Greg, when was the last time you used this email address? Who knows this address?"

"I swear I didn't use it for personal stuff! I hardly ever use it, how often do we need to give our email address in our job?" Greg replied, almost as if he had to defend himself.

Sara wasn't sure this was about Greg. "Let's not forget... Our department email addresses are our names and we all have the same domain. If someone knows our name, they also know the email address. It might be just a coincidence he picked Greg, you know."

"Maybe he's someone you met while working on a case." Nick suggested "And because he remembered your name, he thought he'd email you."

"Well if that's the case... We're not in luck. I met dozens of people alone in the last week!"

"Greg's right. Even if we went through all the cases he's been working on the last weeks, we still don't know if that's how he got to his email address. I think we need another way to find this guy." Catherine said with a thoughtful look on her face.

* * *

"Hey Bobby" Nick said, walking into ballistics. „Is our gun ready?"

"Yepp" Bobby replied „But it's not the gun that shot the bullets through the house" He handed Nick his report.

"What?"

"Yeah... I know, I thought it would match, too. It's a similar gun, but not THAT gun."

They found the gun at the tree house. Why would the shooter leave a gun at that tree house he didn't use? Nick thought he played with them. „Alright, thanks man..."

"Hey Nick" Greg said, passing Nick while he was coming out of ballistics.

"Greg, what's wrong?" he couldn't help but notice the mad tone in Greg's voice.

"Nothing... Well, the mechanic called again. He said someone tampered with my car's engine!" Greg was clearly angry. He had a hard time understanding why someone would wreck his car for fun.

"Probably some teenagers with a wicked sense of humor." Nick said, patting Greg on the shoulder. "Don't worry about it."

"I know.. It's just... It's not about the money, I just don't get what kind of person would do that!" Greg just went on with his rant, not acting weird about Nick touching his shoulder. This moment made Nick really happy, he was sure Greg was finally overcoming his emotional trauma.

"I know it's inconvenient and troublesome that you don't have a car, but if you want to I can give you a ride until your car is ready, you know." Nick kindly offered.

Greg finally stopped his rant and smiled at Nick. "Thanks, Nick..."

* * *

"Doc Robbins confirmed, the father didn't hang himself." Ray said, handing the autopsy report to Nick. Again they all gathered in the break room to discuss the case.

"So somebody had to be at the crime scene... It's very likely he killed the whole family" Nick said.

"Let's not get ahead of the evidence here, Nicky. He could still be the one who murdered the family. For all we know, the aunt could've found the bodies and killed him." Catherine didn't believe in that theory, but they had not enough evidence yet to prove either one right or wrong.

"But I think it's very likely that the one who sent me these pictures is the one who killed the father." Greg added.

"Here's what we know so far. The mother was the first victim. She was smothered with a pillow from her bedroom. The older daughter was the second victim, being shot in the back while taking a shower... The little daughter was probably the third victim. Judging from the direction her body was lying, she probably was about to hide underneath her bed when she was shot..." he paused there for a second. "Then he shot the son and his girlfriend. It looks like they were running to the door when they were shot from behind. They probably wanted to check upstairs when the shooter came down to them. And finally... The father was strangled and hung up."

"Why would the killer strangle him instead of shoot him? Doesn't really make any sense..." Nick wondered.

"Maybe he thought it looked more real to hang him?" Sara suggested.

"Was there any gunshot residue on his hands?" Catherine asked, looking at the autopsy report.

"No. I don't even think he held the gun. We checked it for prints. It's wiped clean."

"Okay... It really does look like he didn't commit those murders..." Catherine acknowledged. "Let's try to find any traces of the shooter, maybe this way we'll find out who's threatening us..."


	4. Chapter 4

After pulling a double, Nick and Greg were on their way home. Catherine, Sara and Ray were still working on the case. They went home when Nick and Greg were on their second shift. And now it was Nick's and Greg's turn to rest a little.

Nick dropped Greg off at his apartment complex. "Okay, I'll pick you up later! Sleep tight!" Nick drove off.

Making his way into the apartment complex, the lights in the corridor were dead. Nothing unusual, Greg thought, that happened every few months, and the janitor usually took his time to switch the light bulbs. Though Greg thought it was weird that all bulbs but one were dead, and the one remaining was wavering, he was too tired to care and just went into his apartment.

Placing his keys on a side table next to the door, Greg went into the kitchen to fix him something to eat.

Putting a plate with some frozen food into the microwave, he noticed something in his apartment was off. With his apartment always being a bit messy, he didn't notice what was off until he saw one of the drawers in his bedroom being wide open. He was sure it was closed when he was leaving the house today so he wondered if someone was in here when he was at work.

Quietly going through the apartment to make sure no one was there, armed with a heavy book he knew he wouldn't be able to keep anyone from hurting him, he arrived back at the kitchen only to notice an empty glass, sitting on the kitchen counter. Next to it, there was the glass of orange juice Nick drank when he picked Greg up for work. Greg was sure it wasn't his glass, and why would Nick take out two glasses? Plus, it looked like someone drank from it. He could see the smudges on the rim of the glass.

He was sure someone's been in his apartment, but there was no sign of forced entry. How did he get in here? And what did he want? Greg went to see if anything of value was stolen, but not even the money he had in the apartment was gone. So what was missing? He didn't think someone would go through the troubles of breaking into his apartment without leaving any signs of forced entry only to leave a glass with their DNA and probably finger prints behind.

Greg decided to see if something in the drawer that was left open was missing. He kept every important document in that drawer, from his birth certificate to his school reports and his labor contract. And indeed, some of it was missing.

When Greg heard the microwave oven ringing, he startled up. Not only did he forget about the food, but he also thought the food would take at least another 15 minutes. He was pretty tired, though, so he figured he must've set the timer wrong. He wasn't feeling save or at ease being in his apartment, knowing someone had entered it without him knowing, but since he already checked to see if someone's still there, he wasn't precautios when he went into the kitchen to check on his food.

Setting the timer another 20 minutes, he went back in his bedroom to check if something else was missing. He picked his cell phone out of his pocket. "Catherine, it's Greg. Someone's been in my apartment... I'm not sure this has anything to do with the email I received, but..." the microwave oven was ringing again.

"I'll send Ray to check for evidence, don't touch anything. It's a crime scene now. We need to be careful with this, it might be related to the bombings and the shootings." after Greg didn't say anything, Catherine got nervous. "Greg, are you still there?"

"...Yeah, okay..." Greg said, quickly hanging up. Looking for something he could defend himself with, he picked up a big book again. He questioned himself for not having a gun at his house, but knew he wouldn't want to use it, anyway.

He wasn't sure if he should just lock himself in the bedroom, leave the apartment or check out if something was wrong with the microwave or if someone was still in here. Since he already checked to see if someone was still there and he found no one, he chose to stay at the apartment and wait for Ray, although he couldn't shake the feeling of somebody else's presence. He decided to check the appartment one more time.

* * *

He took a look around the kitchen. It wasn't a very big kitchen and he didn't really see much space anyone could hide in, so he decided to take a look at the microwave. Putting the book down on the kitchen counter, he opened the microwave oven to find his food missing. Quickly running into the bedroom to pick up the cell phone he left on his bed, he headed for the door. With his hand on the doorknob, he got hit in the head from behind, causing him to black out.

* * *

When Greg recovered consciousness he found himself pinned down to the floor, face down. Every attempt to get up failed as the man who attacked him kept pushing him down.

"You're lucky you don't have a gun at your place" the man said "Otherwise you'd be dead by now."

Pinning one of Greg's hands to the floor, pushing the other against his back, the man continued. "Listen... And listen carefully." he whispered in Greg's ear "The bombs and the shootings were just the beginning. There will be more to come, so get ready for it. It's gonna be big."

The man got up, kicked Greg in the side hard enough to crack a rib, continuing "Remember. You know nothing about me, but I know everything about you guys I need to know to make your miserable existences living hell. I'd advise you to stay on the ground until I'm gone or I'll have to correct myself... Because this means you won't be as lucky as I said before."

As the man left, Greg stayed on the floor, not being able to get up, anyway, but also not wanting to get up in fear of the man kept his promise.

After Greg was sure the mysterious man was gone, he slowly tried to get up. Bending forward to get up, he coughed painfully. He wasn't sure if his rib was broken, but it sure hurt as if it was.

Trying to find his cell phone to call Ray to tell him to hurry up, he noticed it was gone. This man who attacked Greg a few minutes ago probably took it with him, he figured. Too tired, dizzy and nauseous from being hit in the head, he didn't really care enough at the moment to look for his cell any further. He just sat there, resting his heavy head against the wall, waiting for Ray to arrive, not thinking about calling him or even the paramedics from the land line.

* * *

Ray finally arrived. Greg's door was wide open.

"Greg?" Ray entered the apartment followed by a cop, both with their gun drawn after they saw the door being open.

When Ray saw Greg sitting there looking like a picture of misery, he put his gun away and took care of him "Greg! What happened? Are you alright?"

"I think so..." he coughed.

"Can you get up?" Ray asked as he took a look at Greg's bleeding head.

In the meantime the cop went through the apartment to check if it was clear.

"Yeah..." Greg responded, slowly getting up supported by Ray. He couldn't stand up straight because his rib hurt so much.

"We better get you to a hospital, Greg..."

"No, I'm fine... I just... need some rest and I'll be fine..." Greg said with a tired and weak voice.

"Do me a favor and call an ambulance." Ray said to the cop, carefully putting Greg down again. "Greg, you need to stay awake, okay? I think you might have a concussion. Who did this? What happened in here?" as Ray took a look around, he noticed the signs of the struggle. Blood drops on the floor, a stone someone obviously brought up here from the outside, next to Greg, and a dirty footprint. Ray thought it was weird there was just one footprint, but he had to take care of Greg first.

"One of the glasses in the kitchen... It's his..." Greg said, closing his eyes.

"Greg, you can't sleep now! You need to stay awake!" as Ray tried to keep him awake, the paramedics arrived.


	5. Chapter 5

When Greg woke up at the hospital, Nick was sitting in his room, reading the newspaper.

"Who called you?" Greg asked, with a faint smile on his face.

"Catherine. How do you feel?" Nick responded.

"Why did she do that? You need your sleep and I'm fine, so..." he slowly sat up, groaning with pain and lying back down.

"Yeah I can see that." Nick said sarcastically. "Besides, you slept for 10 hours."

"What?" Greg sat up quickly, not believing how long he's been asleep. And as quickly as he got up, he got down again, groaning in pain.

Nick grinned "Maybe you should just lie down." his grin changed into a serious face again "So can you tell me what happened?"

"Well..." Greg looked at Nick. "After you dropped me off at my place I wanted to eat something and then go to sleep. But I noticed that someone must've been in my apartment... He took all my documents that had anything to do with work, Nick. He also got my cell phone... And he said..." Greg paused and gave Nick a look that made his heart hurt. "He said the bombs and the shooting was just the beginning... and that he knows everything about us he needs to know... to hurt us..."

Nick couldn't help but notice the fear and helplessness in Greg's eyes. "Don't worry about that. You need to get better, we'll do everything we can to stop this guy before he can hurt anyone again."

"Nick, he was able to get into my apartment without breaking the lock. I checked my apartment when I got home and noticed someone was inside and I didn't see him but he was still there... We need to be really careful with this guy..." Greg said, trying to get out of the bed.

"Wait wait, what are you doing?" Nick tried to keep him in the bed.

"I can't just lie around here being all useless! We need to get him quick!"

"No, you need to rest. We'll take care of it... Now go back to bed or I'll tell the nurse to strap you down." Nick said with a serious look on his face.

"Don't be ridiculous, Nick! I'm fine, why shouldn't I go back to work?"

"So you're fine, really?" Nick gently poked Greg's side, causing him to squirm with pain.

Greg sighed. "You can be a real jerk, you know that?"

Nick couldn't help but smile. "Sometimes I have to to keep you from doing something stupid. Get some rest, I'll come back in a few hours to check on you. When you're really feeling better then, I'll take you back to the lab. Deal?"

"It's not like I have a choice, do I?"

"No, you don't." Nick left with a laugh.

* * *

"Hey Julian" Sara walked into the DNA lab. „Is the DNA result from the glass Ray gave you ready?"

"Of course. You can tell Ray to pick it up." He said without looking at her.

Sara gave him the typical Sara-smile when she was annoyed by someone or something „Or... You could give me the results. It's not only Ray's case, you know."

Julian just rolled his eyes and handed her his report. "Unknown female DNA."

"Wait, female?" Sara said surprised. "Greg said he was attacked by a male..."

"Maybe he just made that up because he was embarrassed that a female knocked him out." Julian said, laughing to himself.

"Shut up or YOU will have something to be embarrassed about." Sara said, leaving the lab.

Julian watched her leave with a shocked face. Sara was never nice to him since she hated his brown nosing, know-it-all attitude, but she never was that rude to him.

* * *

The CSIs gathered in the break room once again.

Catherine sighed. „Okay, so the DNA from the rim of the glass from Greg's apartment is female?"

"Yes, she's not in CODIS. And her fingerprints are not in the system, either. That is, if the fingerprints on the glass belong to the mystery woman." Sara answered.

"Any chance Greg had a visitor that used this glass?" Catherine asked her team.

"I don't think so, Catherine. He called attention to the glass when I found him. He told me to process the glass because he was sure the guy who attacked him put it there." Ray said, looking down the report.

"I'm not even sure this glass is Greg's..." Nick said, looking at a picture of it. "I've never seen that one before. And who buys just one new glass?"

"Are you saying the guy brought that glass with him?" Sara wondered.

"Well, why not? Maybe he wanted to keep us busy or something, he's obviously a lunatic."

"Okay then..." Catherine released a deep sigh again. "Nick, go ask Greg about the glass. If it's really not his, then maybe we'll be able to find a DNA or fingerprint match with missing persons or ongoing cases we have. Maybe he wants to tell us something with this glass."

* * *

"Okay, thanks, Sara..." Nick walked into Greg's room with his cell phone on his ear. "See you later."

"Finally! What took you so long?" Greg was sitting on his bed, already dressed.

"You want to go back to work already? Are you sure?"

"Yes, I am. We need to find this guy and I'm sure you could use my help." Greg said, putting his shoes on.

"Well yes... But what about your rib? Did it stop hurting?"

"It's gotten better... Just try not to hit any speed bumps on the way to the lab and I'll be fine." he smiled, slowly getting up.

* * *

On their way back to the lab, Nick decided to tell Greg about what Sara just said on the phone. "So... The glass in your kitchen... The DNA on it was female..."

"Female?" Greg looked at Nick "Do you know who it belongs to?"

Nick sighed "Yes we do..." briefly looking at Greg, he continued "It's connected to the family drama we're working on. It belongs to the son's girlfriend."

Greg fixated his eyes on Nick, with a disbelieving look on his face "What?"

"Yeah... We have no idea what he wants from you, if he picked you out randomly or if it's something personal, but it's no coincidence he sends you two messages about this case..."

Greg scratched his forehead "Nick, I can't think about anyone who would have a reason to do something like that, and I didn't recognize his voice. I don't think that I actually know this guy."

As they arrived at the lab, Nick and Greg got out of the car.

"I figured. Which only makes it harder to find him..." Nick gently put his hand on Greg's shoulder "But it's a good thing there's no one holding a grudge against you."

Nick didn't notice the slight discomfort in Greg's face when Nick touched him, but it was there. The attack in his own home brought up some of the old scars again, but Greg was determined to fight them off once again.

* * *

"Greg! What are you doing here? You're supposed to be at the hospital recovering. What the hell, Nicky, why did you bring him here?" Catherine wasn't mad at either one of her colleagues, but she was worried about Greg.

"It's not his fault, Cath. I wanted to come back. I'm fine, I can work. I want to work!" Greg tried to convince her to allow him back to work.

"My job would be a lot easier if you guys weren't all so stubborn!" she walked away. "But you're not going out in the field!" she said with her back turned on them.

* * *

"Catherine, I need you to see this..." Brass entered Catherine's office with a look on his face that told Catherine he didn't have good news.

"What is it, Jim?"

"I wanted to talk to Mrs. Brown, the girlfriend's mother... But she wasn't home." Brass slowly sat down and handed Catherine some pictures. "Ray made photos of the family kitchen in Henderson. They don't have any glasses that look like the one he found in Greg's kitchen."

Catherine sighed. She knew where Brass was going with this.

"I went to Mrs. Brown again, with a warrant. When she didn't open up, we went in..." he handed her some more pictures.

"Oh no... When were these photos taken?" Catherine said without looking up to Brass.

"When you guys were with Greg at the hospital, I had the swing shift take care of it, but it's your case now." he handed her all the files he had concerning this case. „According to David she died a few hours before the other family was killed."

"Thanks Jim..." Catherine picked up the files and went out of the office.


	6. Chapter 6

"Hey David, you have something for me?" Greg walked into the autopsy room, ready to pick up some fibers David found on Mrs. Brown.

"Yes, I collected these fibers off her skirt. Also I wanted to give you this." David handed over a bagged bloody knife.

"Is this the murder weapon?"

"No. She was stabbed with a larger knife. Let's just hope she fought back and this is the murderer's blood."

"Yeah I'm not sure we're that lucky but we ca..." looking at the body, Greg stopped.

David's eyes wandered from Greg to the body and back to Greg. "Is something wrong?"

"I know her... She works at the bank I go to..."

The anxious look on Greg's face was obvious to David. Not really sure what to say he finally came to a conclusion. "This might be your connection to him."

Without saying a word Greg turned around and left the autopsy room with the evidence David gave him. He was determined to find out who the suspect was and what he wanted from him.

* * *

"Hodges!" Greg stormed into the trace lab. "I need you to find out what this is right away!" without looking at Hodges, Greg dropped the trace evidence in front of him and made his way to the DNA lab.

"Julian, find out if the blood on the knife matches anyone involved with our crime scenes or if the donor is in CODIS or any other database!" making his way out the door, he was stopped by Julian.

"Excuse me, Sanders. I'm not a computer, I'm a human being. How about saying pretty please?"

Greg turned around to Julian and rolled his eyes. "Could you PLEASE just do your job without being a condescending jerk? Thank you!" he went out without awaiting a response from the lab tech.

"Catherine!" meeting her outside the DNA lab, Greg showed her pictures of Mrs. Brown. "I know this woman. I think she's the connection between me and the suspect!"

Catherine gave him a surprised look. "How do you know her?"

"She works at my bank. I've never seen her outside the bank or anything, but this can't be a coincidence, right?" Greg had a rather exciting look on his face. He was excited about getting one step closer to finding the suspect who was terrorizing the police.

Catherine took the picture in her hands and looked at it. "Maybe that's where he got your home address from. She died before the others did... Maybe he forced her into giving him your address."

Nick walked up to his two colleagues. "What's up with him?" Nick pointed to Greg's excited face.

"We think we found the connection between Greg and the suspect." Catherine handed Nick the picture.

"She works at your bank, right?" Nick asked, causing Catherine to give him a confused look.

"I was with him at the bank a few times in our lunch break."

"Alright... Nick, get Sara and talk to her employer. Maybe he can help us somehow." ready to make her way back to her office, Greg interrupted her.

"Wait, why Sara? Why can't I go?"

"Two reasons. I told you you're not supposed to get out in the field yet and you're too involved. You're lucky I didn't pull you off the case already. I'm still thinking about that."

"...Alright. I'll wait for the trace and DNA results then..." Greg said subdued.

* * *

"Hodges, are the results ready?" Greg walked into the trace lab with a smile on his face.

"Yes... And the fibers on your victim are the same as the fibers Nick pulled off the other victim's mouth..." looking into a microscope, he handed Greg the report.

"He takes a pillow from his first victim's home to kill his second victim with it?"

"Not very smart of him..." Hodges looked up from the microscope. "So listen, about our plans for the weekend... You probably don't feel like going out with everything that's happened, right?"

"Huh?" Greg looked up from the report. "No, sure, I'm fine. Count me in." looking back at the report, he walked out.

"Great..." Hodges smiled.

* * *

"I can't believe she got murdered... She was such a lovely person..." Mr. Doyle slowly sat down. Sara and Nick just broke the news to him that his employee, Mrs. Brown, was murdered.

"Mr. Doyle, we believe she gave away personal informations about one of your customers. Did she have access to these informations at her home?" Sara asked him.

"What?" he looked up to her. "No, no way. She can't log into the software from any other computer than her work computer. It's not online... She only had access in the bank. But she would never give any personal informations away!"

"We think she was forced to do so by her murderer. Is there any way for you to check if she looked into someone's files?"

"Yes. The software saves the access time of these informations. What's the name?" he was getting ready to type the name into the search mask.

"It's Greg Sanders." Nick said, not giving Sara a chance to say it herself, which caused her to give him a look.

"Okay... last access was two weeks ago." Mr. Doyle looked at the screen.

"Two weeks? Are you sure?"

"Yes. Take a look." turning the screen to Sara and Nick, they stared at the date in disbelieve.

* * *

The CSIs all met in the break room. Nick and Sara had been back for a while and walked in with a bag of evidence that had already been processed.

"We found something interesting..." Sara held a cotton swab in her hand. "Semen... At Mrs. Brown's workplace."

"Any hit in CODIS?" Catherine asked.

"No. But... The DNA is a match to the blood on the knife the swing shift found at her house." Sara smiled reassuring. "I got a theory. The suspect had an affair with Mrs. Brown, makes her give him Greg's address and after he got what he wanted he decides to kill her."

"Sounds good, but we have no evidence to back this theory up, do we?" Catherine looked at the reports. "For all we know this could be a third person she had sex with and the suspect killed him, too and dumped the body somewhere."

"Alright, what else do we got?" Nick grabbed the reports, trying to find anything that could help them crack the case.

"Well you know Julian. He's not done checking all the databases yet..." Sara said with a disappointed and slightly angry face.

"I'll have to talk to Ecklie about him, I think. We need the results as quick as possible and he's taking it slow..." Catherine was angry with Julian. Not only was he a lazy worker, he always gave everyone an attitude when they talked to him about it.

"Hey guys, I just got a hit in CODIS." Julian walked in, dropping the results on the table in front of Nick. "Looks like the mystery date of one of your victims served some time."

Nick gave him a rather disgusted look as he didn't find the joke funny. "Show some respect, man. Who is this guy?"

"His name's Jeffrey Penn." Julian rolled his eyes, noticing everyone of the CSIs giving him a look. "Served time for rape. Also, before that he used to be a cop." Julian left the room without saying anything else.

"An Ex-Cop with a grudge on the police? That would explain a lot..." Sara suggested.

Catherine gave Brass a call. "Brass, we need you to find a Jeffrey Penn. He used to be a cop before he was imprisoned for a rape charge. We have evidence pointing out he is the guy we're looking for. He might be injured so check the hospitals."

"_I don't think that's necessary..." _Brass said with a serious tone in his voice.

"What are you talking about?"

"_I'm with him right now. He's dead."_


	7. Chapter 7

Ray and Nick were walking up to Brass who was standing next the dead body of Jeffrey Penn.

Ray pointed his flash light on the dead body. "I'm going to go out on a limb and say he was stabbed..." looking at several stab wounds, Ray couldn't help but say this.

"Are those defensive wounds, Ray?" Nick asked, pointing his flash light on Penn's hands.

"Yes... Nick, do you smell that?"

"What?" Nick bended over to the body, trying to smell what Ray was pointing out.

"I think that's shampoo." he touched the hair. "I think he still got some shampoo in his hair, but it's dry."

"Did the swing shift process the bathroom in Mrs. Browns house?" Nick got up, facing Brass.

"I don't think so. They checked it, but it was clean, they had no reason to take a closer look." Brass said, taking out his cell phone.

"Well now we do." Ray got up and looked at the two men. "It's very likely that this man was killed while he was taking a shower. That would explain why they didn't find his blood at the scene."

Brass called Catherine to go to Mrs. Browns house and check the bathroom, but she already had some interesting news for him. "Hey Catherine, we think we know where Penn died..."

"_Okay, I'll send Sara. But I just got a call from Detective Vega. Another body was found..."_

"Okay, Greg. I hope you know that the only reason you're here with me is that everyone else was busy. I want you to take it slow, you're still hurt." Catherine said, giving him a serious and concerned look.

Greg smiled at here. "Don't worry, I'm fine. I can take care of myself."

They both walked up to Detective Vega who was already waiting for them together with David.

"Hey guys. Time of death approximately five hours ago. It looks like a heart attack, but it could also be poisoning." David pulled the thermometer he used to check for liver temperature out of the body.

"Then where does all the blood come from?" Greg pointed his flash light on the bloody shower curtain.

"He has no wounds, I don't think it's his..." David kept on processing the body.

Catherine pointed her flash light on the shower curtain as well. "It's attached pretty sloppy... And there's something that looks like a piece of another shower curtain..." she picked it up with a tweezer. "You know, maybe Penn was wrapped and moved in this curtain... Let's swab the blood and then bag the curtain."

The blood on the shower curtain came back to Jeffrey Penn. They also found trace of dirt on it, probably from where Brass found the body. So now they had a suspect that was trying to kill as many cops as possible and had a habit of bringing objects from his older murders to the new crime scenes. They had absolutely no clue who he might be and why he does this, but they were sure it was only a matter of time until the next murder or attempt to kill cops.

The CSIs all have been working for hours now and it was time for Nick and Greg to go home and take a break.

"Greg" Catherine walked into the locker room. "Are you sure you want to go home? Brass is taking care of protection, but I'd feel better if you went into a hotel room instead..."

Closing his locker, Greg turned to face Catherine. "No, Catherine, it's fine. I don't even need protection. I don't think he'll come back to me, would be stupid of him, don't you think?"

"What? You want to go home already?" Nick almost yelled at Greg. "I thought you agreed to sleep at my place for the next few days!"

"Yeah I know... But I just don't think it's necessary." there was the slight discomfort showing in his face again, but this time Nick noticed it.

Catherine put her hand on Greg's shoulder. "Please, Greg. Just go with Nicky. This guy's really dangerous and we have no idea if he'll come back or not. I don't want to take that risk."

Greg sighed. He knew they were right but something inside him just didn't want him to go home with Nick. "Alright... But only for a few days..."

After picking up some of his stuff from his apartment, Greg drove home with Nick. Nick was making the guest room ready for Greg while Greg was in the kitchen fixing them something to eat.

"Okay" Nick walked into the living room, turning on the TV. "The room's ready."

"Thanks, Nick." Greg walked over to the couch, putting the plate with a sandwich in front of Nick on the coffee table and sitting down.

"How's your rib doing? Still hurting?"

"It's better. The pain killer's kicking in." Greg gave Nick a smile.

"I hope you're careful with the sleeping pills when you're taking pain meds, Greg." Nick got up to get himself a bottle of beer and Greg a bottle of water.

Greg rolled his eyes. "Don't worry, I'm not taking any sleeping pills right now."

"I'm just saying... I don't think I've ever seen you taking pain killers or sleeping pills before."

Greg leaned back, worn out from work and everything that's happened in the past few weeks and sick of questions about his wellbeing being asked. "What's your point, Nick? I'm in pain and I don't sleep well. Why shouldn't I take these pills? That's what they're made for."

"Man, what's going on with you? Why aren't you talking to me? I can see you being troubled and worried and I can't help you if you don't talk to me!" Nick didn't plan to, but he just had to led it all out.

"What do you want from me? It's been a few rough weeks, that's all. I did talk to you about my troubles and they're gone now..." Greg didn't even look at Nick, just stared at the sandwich in front of him.

"And the attack last night, that didn't bring any of these feelings back up again? Or the shooting?"

Greg just kept staring at the sandwich and didn't say anything. He felt his eyes tear up but crying in front of Nick now was the least he wanted.

Nick saw Greg fighting back tears. "Listen, I'm just worried about you." his voice calmed down again. "We all are. We noticed something about you has changed in the last few months, after this all happened. I thought you were back on track again and then this attack happened..." Nick gently put his hand on Greg's shoulder. "I just can't stand seeing you like that... and I want you to know I'm there for you if you need me."

Nick just sat there, ate his sandwich, drank his beer and watched some TV. He noticed Greg not even touching his food, but he didn't say anything. Although he really wanted to say a lot more to him, he decided to just drop it for now and try to act as if nothing happened.

They sat together for a while, both pretending to pay attention to the TV program they were watching, but both got lost in their thoughts.

Nick thought about ways to help Greg deal with his troubles better. He tried to decide on whether it was best to keep him distracted from it or make him talk about it. He knew the latter would be the more difficult way for both of them, but he thought in the long run it would help Greg more. Nick himself was not the type to talk about his troubles too much, but he wanted others to talk about their feelings. He always knew that him not talking about it didn't really help him much, but it was just the way he learned to deal with it. But Greg has always been different. He wanted to talk about stuff like that, the important and less important problems in his life. And he usually told Nick about it all. The only time he didn't was when Warrick died. Greg figured that Nick took his death the hardest and he didn't feel the need to burden Nick with his pain, too.

Greg on the other hand thought about what to say to Nick. He wasn't really sure about his feelings about the attack and everything else that happened, so how could he then tell Nick about it? But he felt bad about the argument they just had and he wanted to do something about it. Normally he wouldn't fear that an argument like that may ruin their friendship, but right now he had thoughts like that. He wasn't even sure where they came from.

After several minutes of silence between the two men, Greg decided to say something, anything to reassure him that, if something's broken between them, it's still time to fix it.

"You know..." as Greg broke up the silence, he gave Nick an insecure smile. "Before the attack I really felt good. I felt comfortable being physically close to you or Ray or any other man, I was able to fall asleep without the pills, I didn't have an anxiety attack for weeks... I just felt good and save. And then..." he looked down to his hands.

Nick just sat next to him, not keeping his eyes off Greg, and not saying anything. He just wanted to listen to him.

Greg slowly leaned back, running his hands through his hair and releasing a deep sigh. "It's probably stupid, but I feel so vulnerable. I'm really scared, Nick." the insecure smile turned into an expression of helplessness.

In this moment Nick realized that Greg had this face expression the whole time for months now. It was really subtle but now that he saw no other face expression covering it up, Nick was sure it has been there since the day at the video store. Nick's heart was pumping through his chest as he saw Greg starting to cry. He himself felt helpless because he had no idea how to ease Greg's pain. After thinking about a dozen things to say, he finally settled with "Then why did you want to go back to your apartment?". Nick knew it was the wrong question to ask, but he couldn't bring himself to say something else.

"I thought this would be the best way to handle my fears, you know? Confronting them by going back to where it happened. I'm not sure I would've pulled through with it, though... Just talking about going back there makes me shiver..." Greg said with a forced laugh that quickly changed back into the helpless face.

He rubbed his with tears filled eyes with his hands. "I hate this. I hate that this all happened and I hate that I can't deal with it better!" the sad tone in his voice turned into anger when he said that.

"What are you talking about, Greg? There's no right or wrong way to deal with something like that. No one should have to deal with it, but you're doing just fine. It may take some time, but you'll get through this." Nick scooted closer to Greg, gently placing his hand on Greg's lower arm and gently squeezing it. "I know you'll get through this."

Greg smiled at Nick, but again his smile didn't stay long on his face and he quickly gave him a sad, helpless look again. "I just feel weak. I should be stronger..."

"Greg..." Nick turned Greg's face with his hand towards him. "You are strong. You continue with your life almost as if nothing's happened. And now you're opening up about your feelings. You're really strong and dealing with it the best you can." Nick could feel Greg starting to shiver a bit but wasn't sure whether it was because of all the emotions coming up or because Nick got too close to him again. Nick decided to let go of Greg and scooting an inch back, giving him some space. "It's normal to feel weak and powerless after something like that happened... But that'll go away soon, I promise." Nick smiled at Greg.

"I hope so..." Greg rubbed his sleep deprived eyes. There was so much more he wanted to tell Nick but didn't know how to do it. He knew Nick was interested in hearing it all, but he couldn't bring himself to start talking again. He tried to but then decided not to. Maybe later, he thought. "We should go to bed now..."


	8. Chapter 8

Both Nick and Greg went to bed three hours ago and both had trouble sleeping. Nick slept about an hour, but Greg didn't sleep at all. He cried for about half an hour, hoping Nick wouldn't hear him, and then he just lied in bed, staring at the walls, thinking about everything that bothered him. He had his sleeping pills with him but didn't want to take them. Although he knew he had to go to work in a few more hours he thought it would be better to face these thoughts now.

It didn't really seem to help much, though. After three hours he was not feeling better at all. The tears stopped coming, but that's about it. The helplessness, the weakness he was feeling three hours ago was still there.

Greg's thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Greg?" Nick whispered. "Is everything alright?"

Greg went to the door to open it. "Yeah, why?"

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up, but I thought I smelled smoke or something and wanted to check on you."

"Now that you mention it, I smell it, too..." when Greg looked at Nick, they both knew they had to find out where that smell came from.

When they reached the living room the fire alarm already went off. About two feet away from the door was the fire. It was a line of fire going from one wall to another, isolating the door from the rest of the house.

"Oh my god, what's going on?" Both men were caught by surprise when they saw that.

"Stay away from the fire!" Nick pushed Greg to the side and ran to the kitchen to get the fire extinguisher.

The drapes had already caught the fire, but Nick was able to get it under control and put it out.

For a minute both men just stood there staring at the mess the fire had caused.

"Are you alright, Nick?" Greg said with a trembling voice.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine." he softly patted Greg on the shoulder. "And you?"

Greg just nodded, still staring at the mess. "We should probably call Catherine." he picked Nick's land line phone. His shaking hands were obvious to Nick. He wasn't even capable of dialing the number due to his shaky hands.

"Here, let me call her." Nick took the phone out of Greg's hand, leading him to the couch. "You sit down for a minute. Do you want me to call a doctor?"

"Huh?" Greg looked up to Nick.

Nick leaned over to Greg, gently grabbing his shoulder. He was still shaking and seemed to be mentally absent and not paying any attention to what Nick was saying. "Greg, are you alright? I'm going to call a doctor for you, okay?"

Still shaking, Greg slowly calmed down. "No, no... that's not necessary. I'm fine..." he averted his gaze back from Nick to the mess the fire caused.

"Alright. Just relax, I'll call Catherine. And don't touch anything, this is a crime scene now!"

Catherine was accompanied by Sara, Ray, Brass and a few cops, standing in front of what caused the fire.

Paper was lined up on the floor, doused in fire accelerant. The CSIs had yet to find out what kind of accelerant was used, but they were sure some was used. Some of the papers that were set on fire were not burned completely, making it easy for the CSIs to know what was written on them.

Sara picked one of them up, looking at Greg. "Catherine..." she handed it to Catherine, who also had to look at Greg when she read the paper.

Greg was sitting on the couch next to Nick, wondering why they were looking at him that way. "What's wrong?"

Catherine walked up to him and sat down. "Is this one of the papers he took from your apartment?"

Greg stared at the paper. The helplessness in his face was more obvious now. He nodded and looked at Nick. "This is all my fault."

Nick shook his head. "Don't you say something like that. Whoever did this is responsible, you didn't have anything to do with it, alright?"

"What the hell does this guy want from me?" Greg's voice started to sound quite desperate, which made Nick worry more.

"Greg..." Catherine gently touched his hand. "You do know I have to pull you off that case, right? I'd rather not have you work right now at all..."

"But..." Greg was too tired to fight with her right now. He understood why she had to take him off the case, though, but not why she didn't want him to work at all. "Alright, I won't work on that case, but I won't go on vacation now."

"Greg, maybe you should take a break. Just take a few days off, okay?" Nick said, trying to convince him.

"No. I won't."

Catherine sighed. "Alright... But you'll stay in the lab. You could do us all a favor and replace Julian for a while. But you won't process the DNA evidence we find concerning this case."

Julian walked up to Ray who was looking at some photos he took at Nick's apartment. "Hello Ray. I have the results from the semen stain you guys found in one of the daughter's rooms ready."

Ray looked up to him with a surprising face. "Help me remember. What case are you talking about?"

"The family drama. I think you found the daughter in the shower and Nick found the semen stain on her bed."

Ray stood up to face Julian. "Are you serious? It took you DAYS to process that stain? Julian, you're working way too slow! We need results like that ASAP! We can't wait weeks for them! The suspect could be already leaving the country if we're taking too long!" Ray was outraged. He knew that Julian respected him more than anyone else, so he thought it was a good idea to talk to him about it. He hoped that, coming from him, Julian would actually think about it and change it.

"Excuse me? I'm working as quick as I can. But your cases are not the only ones I need to work on, okay?" Julian didn't react the way Ray expected him to. Instead, he got defensive, showing no reason.

Ray sighed. He didn't feel like he could win that argument, with Julian being so undiscerning. "Whatever. If you think this attitude is going to bring you anywhere, keep it. Just give me the results and get the hell out of here." Ray was usually very kind to Julian, although he didn't like him. But after all that's happened he was stressed out, too, like everyone else.

Julian handed him the report, rolled his eyes and left the room.


	9. Chapter 9

"Okay, the DNA came back to the daughter's boyfriend." Ray walked with Catherine through the hallway.

"He's in the system?" Catherine took a look at the results.

"He works at a Casino. He has no rap sheet. Brass talked to him, he seems to be a nice kid..."

"It's likely that the killer knows they were a couple. We should give him protection."

"Brass' already on it." Ray and Catherine parted ways as Ray went to find Sara and Catherine went into the DNA lab.

"Hey Greg. How are you holding up?" she smiled at her young colleague.

Greg gave her a rather annoyed look. "I'm fine..." getting back to the DNA sample he has been working on before Catherine showed up, it was obvious for Catherine that he was angry with her.

"You do understand why I had to pull you from the case, right?"

"Yeah, of course..." he didn't bother to look at her.

"Greg..." Catherine walked up to him, forcing him to face her. "I'm worried about you. I don't want you out in the field as long as there's a lunatic threatening us."

"Yeah, I know that but..." they were interrupted by Catherine's cell phone ringing.

As Catherine looked at the caller ID and saw it coming from Greg's stolen cell phone, she went off to the A/V lab. Greg followed her.

"Archie, I need you to retrace where this call comes from!" Catherine answered the call. "Who's this?"

"_Hello, Catherine. Nice to finally hear your voice."_

"What do you want?"

"_Nothing. I just wanted to talk to you. You look like such a nice person."_

This got Catherine thinking. Was he just trying to intimidate her or did he actually know what she looked like? And if he did, how? "Oh yeah?"

"_Yes. But you all look like very nice people..."_

"Okay, so you stole a CSIs cell phone only to make prank calls? Or is there something else you want to tell me?"

"_Could I please talk to Greg?"_

Catherine could hear the guy grin as he said that and she wasn't sure Greg could handle talking to him right now. "Why do you want that?"

"_I'd rather tell him personally. So hand him your phone or I'll think about another way to talk to him, you got it?"_

She could hear the amusement in his voice being replaced by anger and although she didn't really want to, she decided to let him talk to Greg.

"He wants to talk to you..." Catherine held the cell phone out to Greg.

Greg hesitated for a second but then took the phone. "...Hello?"

The caller moaned. _"It's so good to hear your voice again."_

While Greg was on the phone with him, Archie was able to trace the call back. Catherine informed Brass about it and he sent a Unit to the place where the call came from.

"_How's your rib? Feeling better? Listen, I wanted to apologize. I didn't mean to make you cry... But your friend Nicky is taking good care of you, right?"_he laughed devilish.

"What do you want from me?" Greg was having a hard time fighting back tears but didn't want to cry in front of Archie or the guy on the phone.

"_Oh good. I hear the cops coming already. You probably didn't think I knew you'd trace back the call, right?" _Again he laughed devilish.

Greg covered the phone with his hand. "Archie, call Brass, it's a trap!"

While Archie was trying to reach Brass' cell phone, Greg kept talking to the man on the phone.

"Why are you doing all of this? What's your agenda?"

The man laughed again. _"Who said I had an agenda? Maybe I'm just a psycho having fun killing cops, you ever thought about that? Maybe I just want to be friends with you all and can't find a better way talking to you, who knows?"_

Greg didn't know what to say to that. He was just worried about Brass and the police officers who were about to go to him. He desperately looked to Archie who couldn't reach Brass.

"_Listen, Greg. I'm going to hang up now. I'm expecting company..." _He laughed again.

"No! Please, just get out of there and leave them alone!" Greg didn't know what else to say, but he was sure it wouldn't help much.

"_Actually I am planning to get out of here. But I have to take care of your friends first..."_

Greg heard several shots being fired, loud enough for Archie to hear them, who was standing a few feet away from Greg. Both men just stood there, stone still. They both tried to imagine what was going on.

"I'll get Catherine..." Archie finally said, running to her office.

Greg was still standing in the A/V lab, holding his phone to his ear. He didn't move an inch, he was imagining the worst happened.

"_Did you hear that? Nice sound, huh?"_

There was a lot Greg would've liked to tell this man now, but he wasn't able to say anything.

"_Are you still there, sweetie? Why don't you try calling Captain Brass right now?" _he said with an evil laugh.

"We're going to find you... You'll have to pay for what you've done..." Greg said with a trembling voice, hanging up the phone.

He sat down, trying not to break down. It was hard, but he managed to keep it together. Then the phone rang again. It came from his cell phone again.-

"Oh god..." he rubbed his teary eyes, trying to find the strength to answer the call. He let it ring several times but then answered.

"_Don't you dare hanging up on me again, Greg! I'm serious. You don't want to see me angry, alright?"_

"Please, just tell me what you want from me! How can I make you stop?"

The caller could hear Greg's desperation and was quite amused by it. It's what he wanted.

"_Frankly, you'd have to kill me to stop me. But you can't kill me until you've found me. And I doubt that'll happen anytime soon. Talk to you later, Greg."_

Archie came back running into the A/V lab. "Greg! Brass is fine! They didn't find the guy, I think he used some kind of router!" he had a relieved smile on his face as he told Greg the good news.

Greg released a deep sigh. He didn't say anything, just smiled at Archie and walked into the break room.

Nick walked into the break room, searching for a cup of coffee, but instead finding Greg sitting in there alone, looking like he just cried. "Hey..."

"Hey Nick." Greg tried to cover up his sad face with a smile.

"Archie told me about what happened. I imagine that was quite a shock, huh?"

Greg nodded. "He's playing with us and having fun doing it..."

"You're not supposed to worry about that... You're off the case for a reason."

"How can I not worry? I feel like this is all my fault and I have no idea what he wants from me..." he looked at Nick with a sad face.

"No, Greg, don't you think that. He just..." in this moment Ray walked in.

"Guys..." Ray's look on his face let the two men prepare for the worst news. "It's happened again..."

The CSIs arrived at the new crime scene. Everyone but Greg was at the scene, as he was still pulled from the case. He wanted to go with, but Catherine didn't let him.

When they arrived, they found a man in his early 30ies with a gunshot wound to his chest. A bag of groceries was lying next to him, suggesting he was on his way back home from a supermarket when he was shot.

"How do we know it was our guy who killed him?" Sara walked up to the body.

Brass took a moment to gather himself. "Because he's a cop." obviously devastated by this, Brass walked away.

The CSIs just stood there for a moment, not believing that the man they were looking for would now hunt the police officers down when they're not at work and killing them.


	10. Chapter 10

Hi!

The next story is called "Nexus". You can find it on my profile page, but to make it easier for you to keep track here's a link to the story.

**.net/s/6776115/1/Nexus** (just put the fanfiction-url in front of it, I can't publish it that way, I'm sorry!)

If you'd rather have just one long story, please let me know. I can publish one big story if that's what you guys want!

**THANK YOU** for reading and hopefully loving my story. Big Love,

pikapikatchu


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